Pedobacter faecalis sp. nov., isolated from the faeces of eland, Taurotragus oryx

Strain ELA7^T, a novel Gram-negative, non-motile bacterium with a white pigment and rod-shaped morphology, was isolated from the faeces of an eland at Seoul Grand Park, a zoo in the Republic of Korea. The novel bacterial strain grew optimally in R2A medium under the following conditions: 0 % (w/v) NaCl, pH 8.0, and 34 °C. Based on phylogenetic analyses using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, strain ELA7^T was found to have the closest relatedness to Pedobacter ginsengisoli Gsoil 104^T (97.8 %), P. frigoris RP-3-15^T (97.2 %), P. humi THG S15-2^T (97.0 %), P. seoulensis THG-G12^T (97.0 %), and P. foliorum LMG 31463^T (96.9 %). The genome size and genomic DNA G+C content of strain ELA7^T were 3.63 Mbp and 46.5 %, respectively. A whole genome-level comparison of strain ELA7^T with P. ginsengisoli Gsoil 104^T, P. frigoris RP-3-15^T, P. africanus DSM 12126^T, and P. psychroterrae RP-1-14^T revealed average nucleotide identity values of 72.0, 71.8, 71.9, and 71.6 %, respectively. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (comprising C_16 : 1 ω7c and/or C_16 : 1 ω6c) and MK-7 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids of strain ELA7^T were phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingolipid, unidentified aminolipid, unidentified phosphoglycolipid, unidentified glycolipid, and eight unidentified lipids. Considering our chemotaxonomic, genotypic, and phenotypic findings, strain ELA7^T (=KACC 23137^T=JCM 36003^T) is identified as representing a novel species within the genus Pedobacter, for which the name Pedobacter faecalis sp. nov. is proposed.